Dear Chamber Members and the greater St George Business community,
I am pleased to be writing to you as the newly appointed St George Business Chamber President, to announce the new Executive Committee. I would like to acknowledge the hard work and effort of our out-going Committee and thank them for their contributions.
Let me begin by thanking Allan Zreik for his services as President of the Chamber for the past seven years, Allan’s achievements are many. His tenure has been marked by several significant achievements, all of which speak volumes about your leadership including the following:
1. Winning the prestigious NSW Local Chamber Award in 2016.
2. The successful amalgamation of six individual chambers into a unified, robust regional Chamber, encompassing the Georges River Council and Bayside Council areas. Hence, the St George Business Chamber was born.
3. Negotiating and signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Chamber and Georges River Council which stood for five years.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Carlos Zeidan for all his hard work and dedication to the Chamber. Carlos has been the heart and soul of the Chamber and the glue that binds it all together and if it were not for you banding us altogether back in 2015, the Chamber would not be where it is today. I would also like to thank Tak Li for his hard work and services to the Chamber whilst serving as the Treasurer. Your wise words, calm nature and true professionalism will be sorely missed.
To me this is not farewell, I wish you all remarkable success with your future endeavours and I am sure you will be there for the Chamber moving forward…
I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead the Chamber and I am excited in the role as President, to help shape the way the local St George business develops over the next few years and more importantly play a significant and active role in the growth of not only the State but Federal economy. I would like to congratulate and welcome our new Committee Members – Valentina Colyer as Vice President, Rick Li as Treasurer and Luke Kovacs as Secretary. Together we cover a range of experience with committee involvement, charity works, and playing an active part in the local business community. As a new Committee, we plan to have a fresh take on the role the Chamber can play to support and promote the wide range of services and support networks for our members. We all appreciate and respect the history and heritage of the Chamber and know it has a key role to play for many years to come.
To our existing members, we thank you for your ongoing support and look forward to collaborating with you to making the Chamber a stronger organisation. To our non-members and those considering future membership with the Chamber, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the Chamber offers a number of networking opportunities, supports workforce training and development initiatives, and speaker seminars on a variety of topics. We will be conducting regular forums and roundtable discussions with leading public and private sector experts in key industries. These include manufacturing, health care, construction, and many more. These forums are open to all members. Attendees will have an opportunity to gain experience first-hand about key policy initiatives and economic development projects impacting the greater St George business community.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for promoting the St George business community and what you envisage from the chamber, I encourage you to send these through for close consideration. Your committee welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact us on our Facebook group or please email me directly at stgeorgebusinesschamber@gmail.com.
Yours sincerely
Tony Baddour
President
0418 422 517